The present invention concerns a water sprinkler for a vibrating plate compactor for compacting ground surfaces with vibration generated by a vibration generator placed on a base plate. More particularly, the invention concerns the construction of the sprinkler for supplying water to the lower side of the base plate in order to prevent adhesion of asphalt to the base plate bottom while performing compaction.
As disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Kokai Hei6-193011 and Japanese Patent Kokai Hei10-183526, there are known conventional sprinklers for a vibrating plate compactor wherein a water tank is mounted above the compactor and a sprinkler nozzle is provided over the front portion of the base plate to spray water to the lower side thereof, and the tank and the sprinkler nozzle are connected by a guide tube, etc.
The above mentioned sprinkler has a switch cock on the tank bottom, and the cock and the nozzle attached to the base plate are connected by a guide tube of a considerable length. Therefore, if there is no water in the tank, the cock is closed and the tank is removed from the compactor in order to supply water from the faucet, etc. On such occasion, the connection between the tank cock and the nozzle must be removed. When mounting the tank filled with water on the compactor, it is necessary to connect the cock and the guide tube. Thus, this type of compactor needed most troublesome handling of removing and attaching the guide tube connecting the cock and the nozzle whenever water was to be supplied to the tank.
As the cock and the nozzle are connected by a relatively long tube, the tube constantly vibrates by vibrations of the compactor, and the connections between the water tank cock and the tube and the tube and the nozzle are quite easily damaged. The connection between the cock and the tube is particularly susceptible to breakage because the cock and the tube must be removed, closed, or loosened frequently whenever supplying water to the tank.
According to the above mentioned sprinkler, the sprinkler nozzle is integrally formed above the front part of the base plate. In manufacturing compactors of this type, the sprinkler nozzle must always be provided above the front of the base plate irrespective of whether or not the water sprinkler is needed for compaction. This meant an extra manufacturing stage for the compactor, and cost reduction was desired.
In a construction where a sprinkler nozzle is integrally formed above the front of the base plate, the nozzle cannot be removed even when compaction work does not require water sprinkling. When performing such work, the nozzle becomes easily clogged with sand or dirt, and cannot be used for compaction requiring water sprinkling.
In view of the problems of this type of water sprinklers, the present invention aims to offer a water sprinkler, which is easy to handle since a sprinkler pipe is formed integrally with the water tank mounted on the compactor so that it is not necessary to detach the pipe from the tank when supplying water to the tank.
For achieving such an objective, the present invention offers a vibrating plate compactor for compacting ground surfaces by vibrations generated by a vibration generator placed on the base plate, and provided with a nozzle for sprinkling water to the bottom surface of the base plate from the water tank positioned on the compactor wherein the tank is mounted on the front part of the base plate in a freely removable fashion and is provided with a sprinkler pipe at the front of the tank bottom which is positioned above and in front of the front edge of the base plate for sprinkling water to the bottom of the base plate, and the tank bottom and the water sprinkler pipe are connected by a connection tube provided with a switch cock.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pair of brackets project downward from both sides of the front bottom of the water tank, each end of the sprinkler pipe is connected to each of these brackets, and on a part of the tank bottom at the rear of one bracket is provided a recess portion below the tank bottom, and the recess portion and one bracket are connected by a connection tube provided with a switch cock.
According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pair of brackets project downward from both sides of the front bottom of the water tank, two ends of the sprinkler pipe are connected between these brackets, and the tank bottom and one bracket connected to one end of the sprinkler pipe are connected by a connection tube provided with a switch cock.
According to yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pair of brackets project downward from both sides of the front bottom of the water tank, two ends of the sprinkler pipe are connected between these brackets, and the tank bottom and the pipe are connected by a connection tube provided with a switch cock.
The vibrating plate compactor provided with the present invention sprinkler may be used for compaction of asphalt-paved surfaces which requires water sprinkling to the bottom surface of the base plate by opening the switch cock of the connection tube provided between the water tank and the bracket or the sprinkler pipe, so that an adequate amount of water flows out of the nozzle holes of the sprinkler pipe and is sprinkled to the bottom of the base plate from the front edge of the base plate to facilitate adequate compaction.
The vibrating plate compactor provided with the present invention sprinkler has a pipe for sprinkling water to the bottom of the base plate on the bottom of the water tank instead of on the compactor base plate so that it is enough to close the cock, to pull up and to remove the tank from the compactor when supplying water to the tank. This simplifies water supply by eliminating troublesome handling as in the conventional type sprinkler such as removing the connection between the tank cock and the guide tube for the sprinkler nozzle, or connecting the cock and the guide tube when the water filled tank is replaced on the machine.